"The Book of Mormon," the irreverent Tony-winning musical comedy from Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of the "South Park" TV series, may be "vulgar and shocking" but it also leaves audiences with an unexpected uplifting message, says K.J. Hippensteel, who plays the perennially chirpy (at least at first) Elder Price, one of two naive Mormon missionaries who go to poverty-stricken Uganda to convert the villagers.

The show, a joint project of Parker, Stone and "Avenue Q" Tony-winner Robert Lopez, is in Philadelphia for a seven-week engagement through Sept. 14 at the Forrest Theatre. The Broadway show was nominated for 14 Tonys, including one for Lower Mount Bethel Township costume designer Ann Roth, and won nine, including for best musical.

The show, which is still running on Broadway, continues to play to packed houses.

"Book of Mormon" pokes fun at Mormonism, also known as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The show opens with "Hello," in which 12 white-shirt-and-tie-clad missionaries, each wearing an ear-to-ear grin, sing as they go door-to-door to spread their gospel.

"I get ready by smiling for 10 minutes before the show starts," says Hippensteel, who played the role on Broadway for 18 months.

Hippensteel says audiences can expect to see basically the same show that is running on Broadway, since little has changed for the touring production.

"It's so much fun," he says. "The show is written so well, and what's so beautiful about the show is it kind of surprises audience with a serious and beautiful story, that's masked by hilarity. It's so funny but in the end there is a good message that people are not expecting."

Hippensteel, who says he was a big fan of "South Park," says when he auditioned for the show in front of Parker and Stone, he was pretty star-struck.

"It was a pretty crazy experience sitting across from Matt and Trey," he says. "They are really cool guys and really low-key. They are like two normal guys who are just really funny."

Hippensteel says he researched the religion because he says he didn't know much about Mormonism, which is a relatively new and uniquely American religion founded by Joseph Smith Jr., in the 1820s.

"Every Mormon goes on a mission when he is 19 to a different part of the world," he says. "My character has an idea of how to take on the world and is disappointed."

Parker and Stone grew up in Colorado, which borders Utah where the Mormon church is headquartered in Salt Lake City. After seeing "Avenue Q" and meeting Lopez, they discovered they all shared an interest in writing a satirical musical about Mormons.

In "Book of Mormon," Elder Price and Elder Cunningham, played by Christopher John O'Neill, go to Uganda and find the people are more concerned about genital mutilation, famine and AIDs than becoming Mormons.

"You're seeing it through the lens of these two innocent boys," he says. "It is really vulgar and shocking."

Hippensteel says his favorite scene is when Elder Price, who has been disappointed over and over again, finally breaks down in a coffee shop, confronts Elder Cunningham and they explode.

"He has just had it," Hippensteel says.

The character then has an epiphany and sings "I Believe," which Hippensteel calls an amazing song.

"This is pure comedy from beginning to end," he says. "People say their bellies hurt after seeing the show because they laughed so much."

He says, musically the show is brilliant, with intelligent lyrics and a "huge sound" thanks to the 10-piece orchestra.

He notes that the "South Park" pair, for all their irreverence, end up coming out in favor of religion.

"The reason for religion is that we all need something to believe in," Hippensteel says. "The message is instead of worrying about how people pray, we should try to work together and make world a better place."

The production also features Roth's costume designs, which include crisp white shirts and ties for the Mormons, colorful tribal outfits and disheveled clothes for the villagers. For Elder Price's dream of Hell scene, she also had to create a devil outfit with horns, wings and a tail that could be changed into a full tuxedo in 15 seconds.

Like its Broadway counterpart, the national tour includes a pre-show lottery at the box office for $27 tickets. The extremely popular lottery attracted as many as 800 entries at some performances on Broadway. Entries can be submitted 2 1/2 hours prior to the performance and winners are chosen at random.

The event will include three-day courses in traditional tap and musical theater tap, including tap dance vocabulary and skills, tap history, auditioning tips and more. There will be master classes in tap, jazz, hip-hop, body percussion and more as well as fitness classes in yoga, zumba and cardio barre. There also will be Tap Talks & Films with some rarely seen tap dance footage, nutrition seminars and "Be Well Dancer" screenings with a Good Shepherd PARC physical therapist, who will evaluate a dancer's balance, posture and flexibility. Events will take place in the dance studios in Steinbright Hall.

The event will culminate with "Tappin' Together," a free performance by Tap Ties Company and festival participants, at 2 p.m. Aug. 20.